Storage system

ABSTRACT

A technique that can efficiently achieve migration of a configuration and data between storage units with varying constructions of configuration information and that can alleviate burdens of personal operation by an administrator, etc. With the configuration information of each storage unit controlled by the storage control server, based on each piece of configuration information, the transfer-source configuration information is converted into information necessary for establishing the logical partition configuration of a storage unit which has the transfer-destination logical partition function. The information prepared by the conversion is transmitted to the transfer-destination storage unit and the configuration with the transfer-source logical configuration set as the transfer-destination logical partition is updated in the transfer-destination storage unit. After the migration of the configuration, the data is migrated using a remote copy function of carrying out data copy between the transfer-source and transfer-destination logical devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority from Japanese patent applicationNo. JP 2004-318082 filed on Nov. 1, 2004, the content of which is herebyIncorporated by reference into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a storage system configuring a storageunit that carries out control to store data in a storage area and moreparticularly to a technique for migrating configuration and data of thestorage unit.

Hitherto, in a storage system that communicably connects a host unitsuch as task server which the user uses and a storage unit, the storageunit carries out control to store the data from a host unit in a storagearea which the storage unit such as hard disk drive provides. To use thestorage system, it is necessary to set and hold configurationinformation in the storage unit.

The configuration information is various pieces of setting informationon physical and logical configurations such as a configuration ofconnection paths (also called logical paths) recognized by the host unitand a configuration of a storage volume of a logical device etc. ensuredon a storage device between the host unit and the storage unit. Thephysical configuration information is information on, for example, aphysical port and a physical disk. The logical configuration informationis information on, for example, a logical port and a logical devicelogically configured and set on the physical configuration.

Conventionally, when a configuration of a storage unit or data stored ina storage volume is transferred to other storage unit, for example, inthe case of replacing the old storage unit with a new storage unit, thefollowing procedure involving a personal operation and a computerprocessing has been necessary. For example, in replacing the old storageunit with the new storage unit, firstly, a person in charge thereofunderstands the content of configuration information held on memory inthe old storage unit, and carries out the environment setting work sothat the same configuration as that of the old storage unit can beachieved in the new storage unit. The person in charge thereof is aperson who utilizes and administers a storage unit and a storage systemincluding the storage unit, such as a system administrator. Migration ofthe configuration corresponds to the migration of the configurationinformation. Then, after setting the new storage unit, the stored datain the old storage unit is copied to the new storage unit. That is, theold storage unit and the new storage unit are connected to the host unitor control device, etc. that can implement data copy therebetween, andthe data copy from the old storage unit to the new storage unit iscarried out. Or, the stored data in the old storage unit is temporarilybacked up into a backup medium such as a magnetic tape, and the backupdata is restored to the new storage unit. Or, if the new and old storageunits have a remote copy function of directly copy-processing the dataof the storage volume such as a logical device, it is possible tomigrate the data by the use of this remote function.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-102374, a technique that carriesout changes in access paths associated with data migration betweenstorage units is described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, a storage unit which has a logical partition functionhas begun to be utilized. If the old storage unit does not have alogical partition function and the new storage unit has a logicalpartition function and the configuration and data of the old storageunit serving as a transfer source are migrated to a logical partitionconfiguration and data of the new storage unit serving as a transferdestination, the person in charge thereof must convert the configurationinformation of the old storage unit to the setting items of the logicalpartition configuration of the new storage unit and carry out thesetting operation.

Almost all the migration concerning the configuration and data of thestorage unit involves comparatively complicated personal work includingunderstanding and converting of the configuration information, therebyresulting in a large burden.

In addition, when the logical partition function of thetransfer-destination storage unit is used and the setting of theconfiguration including the logical partition configuration of thetransfer-destination storage unit is implemented, because theconstruction of the configuration information differs between thetransfer-source storage unit with no logical partition function and thetransfer-destination storage unit with the logical partition function,the migration as it is, that is, the migration by simply moving theconfiguration information and the copy from a transfer source to atransfer destination cannot be carried out.

In the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-102374,in the case of the migration from the transfer-source configuration withno logical partition to the transfer-destination configuration withlogical partition configuration, the migration is impossible similarly.

The present invention is made in view of the foregoing problems, and anobject of the present invention is to provide a technique, which canefficiently carry out the migration between the storage units havingdifferent constructions in the configuration information due to presenceor absence of the logical partition function and can alleviate burdensof personal operations by the administrator in migrating configurationand data from one storage unit to the other storage unit.

Outlines of representative ones of inventions disclosed in the presentapplication will be briefly described as follows.

In order to achieve the above object, a storage system according to thepresent invention comprises one or more storage units each having astorage device and a controller to control storage of data in thestorage device, wherein the storage unit is configured to haveconfiguration information that includes logical configurationinformation held on a memory, and the storage system has the features ofprovided the following technical means:

First of all, there is considered the case in which configuration of oneor more storage units is introduced into a configuration control meansof a batch controllable storage control server and others via a networkand others and operated in an existing storage system. In such event, anattention is placed on the fact that configuration information of thetransfer-source storage unit which is in operation and serves as atarget to have a configuration and data migrated is held and controlledby the configuration control means. As described above, when theconstruction of the configuration information differs between thetransfer-source and the transfer-destination configuration and the datacannot be migrated as it is. Therefore, in the storage system accordingto the present invention, by the configuration of having a server unitcommunicably connected to the above-mentioned one or more storage unitsequipped as a configuration control means to carry out migration controlof the configuration and data, and in the server unit, the configurationinformation of each storage unit is collection-processed and held andcontrolled in a batch in the table inside the server unit and, at thesame time, using the configuration information to be held, theconfiguration information is conversion-processed for migrating theconfiguration. That is, in the server unit, a process is carried out toconvert configuration information of the transfer-source storage unit toinformation necessary to set the logical partition configuration in thetransfer-destination storage unit having a logical partition function.The server unit transmits the information prepared by the conversion tothe transfer-destination storage unit, and by the transmittedinformation, establishment or updating of the configuration of thetransfer-destination storage unit is carried out. In addition, becausein the present storage system, by the migration of configuration, thesetting relation of storage volume of logical device and others isunderstood between the transfer-source and the transfer-destinationstorage units, after the configuration is migrated, under the control ofthe server unit, processing to migrate the stored data of the storagevolume is performed between the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination storage units.

The storage system according to the present invention comprises, inparticular, a migration control means that controls migration concerningconfiguration and data between the first storage unit with no logicalpartition function that enables logical partition configuration torestrict access to resources of usable logical configuration to specificusers and the second storage unit with a logical partition function.

The migration control means migrates configuration by converting theconfiguration of the transfer-source first storage unit to the logicalpartition configuration of the transfer-destination second storage unitbased on the configuration information and by updating configuration ofthe second storage unit, and after migration of the configuration,successively migrates the stored data from the first storage unit to thesecond storage unit by the use of a data copy means to copy the databetween the first storage unit and the second storage unit. When thedata is left in the transfer-source data copying is carried out. Whenthe data is not left in the transfer-source the data is migrated.

In addition, a storage system according to the present inventioncomprise a server unit (storage control server) to which each storageunit including the transfer-source first storage unit and thetransfer-destination second storage unit are communicably connected as amigration control means that controls the migration about theconfiguration and data between the first storage unit having no logicalpartition function and the second storage unit having a logicalpartition function.

The server collects the configuration information of each storage unitand holds and controls it in a table, converts the configuration of thefirst storage unit to the logical partition configuration of the secondstorage unit in accordance with the configuration information in thetable in response to the direction of migration, transmits theinformation prepared by the conversion to the second storage unit andupdates the configuration of the second storage unit, and, aftermigration of the configuration, successively migrates the stored data ofthe storage volume from the first storage unit to the second storageunit by using a data copy means to copy the data between the firststorage unit and the second storage unit.

In addition, the storage unit carries out a process forreferring/updating configuration information held on the memory asrequired by a processor unit (SVP) for maintenance and control of, forexample, its own storage unit, reads and transmits the configurationinformation on the memory in accordance with the request from the unitsuch as the external server unit and others, and receives informationfrom the external unit in accordance with the request from the externalunit and reflects it to the configuration information on the memory.

Furthermore, the storage unit is configured to hold configurationinformation including logical configuration information on a pathconfiguration for access between the host unit and the storage volume ofthe storage unit, a storage volume configuration such as a logicaldevice assignment configuration and others, and a logical configurationincluding a cache configuration such as cash capacity and others on thememory.

The second storage unit can configure the first logical partitionconcerning the cache configuration (cache logical partition) and thesecond logical partition concerning other configurations including thepath configuration and the storage volume configuration (storage logicalpartition).

The server unit converts the transfer-source cache configuration to thefirst logical partition and other configuration including the pathconfiguration and the storage volume configuration to the second logicalpartition as a logical partition configuration in thetransfer-destination second storage unit in accordance with a directionof the migration.

In addition, in the data migration process, as a data copy means, datais transmitted by using a remote copy function of remote-copying thestored data of the storage volume that forms a copy pair between thetransfer-source first storage unit and the transfer-destination secondstorage unit.

In addition, in other storage system according to the present invention,migration control of the configuration is carried out and the migrationof data is not carried out. The storage system has a server unit towhich each storage unit including the transfer-source first storage unitand the transfer-destination second storage unit is communicablyconnected as a migration control means about a configuration between thefirst storage unit having no logical partition function and the secondstorage unit having a logical partition function. The server unitcollects configuration information of each storage unit and holds andcontrols it in a table, and converts the configuration of the firststorage unit to the logical partition configuration of the secondstorage unit in accordance with the configuration information in thetable in response to the direction of migration, and transmits theinformation prepared by the conversion to the second storage unit andupdates the configuration.

In another storage system according to the present invention,transmission and receipt of the processed information of configurationinformation and others are not carried out between the units, but theprocessed information is migrated by using the recording media throughan operation of the person in charge of migration. The present storagesystem comprises an information processor unit in which a conversionprogram (migration configuration conversion program) runs to carry out aconversion process for the configuration information of thetransfer-source and the transfer-destination storage units with respectto the migration concerning a configuration between the first storageunit having no logical partition function that enables the logicalpartition configuration and the second storage unit having a logicalpartition function.

In the event of migration, by an operation of the person in chargeintervened, the configuration information read respectively from thefirst and the second storage units and stored in the recording medium isimported by a conversion program that runs on the information processorunit. And, based on this information, the configuration of the firststorage unit is converted to the logical partition configuration of thesecond storage unit by the conversion program. And, the informationprepared by the conversion processing is stored in the recording medium.And, the stored information is read by the second storage unit and, bythis information, the configuration information in the second storageunit is updated.

Effects obtained from representative ones of inventions disclosed in thepresent application will be briefly described as follows.

According to the present invention, in carrying out migration of theconfiguration or data from one storage unit into the other storage unit,the migration between the storage units depending on constructions ofthe configuration information by the presence or the absence of alogical partition function can be efficiently achieved, and a burden ofthe personal operation by the administrator and others can bealleviated. In particular, the configuration and the stored data havingno logical partition of the transfer-source storage unit can bemigrated, as the logical partition configuration and the stored data ofthe transfer-destination storage unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware appearance configuration of astorage unit configuring a storage system that is one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a storage system which isone typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a storage unitrelated to a storage system that is an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for showing a concept of a storagelogical partition and a cache logical partition related to a storagesystem that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a storage control serverconfiguring a storage system that is one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation clientconfiguring a storage system that is one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a correlation between a system configurationassociated with a configuration and migration control of data and aprocessing/operation in a storage system that is one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a processing time chart in a storage system that is oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing details of a configuration control table ina storage system that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing details of a storage-unit control table ina storage system that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing details of physical configurationinformation in a storage system that is one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing details of logical configurationinformation in a storage system that is one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing details of a migration configurationconversion table in a storage system that is one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing details of a user account control table ina storage system that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart (No. 1) of the whole processing in a storagesystem that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart (No. 2) of the whole processing in a storagesystem that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart (No. 3) of the whole processing in a storagesystem that is one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 18A and 18B is an explanatory diagram for showing an example ofconsolidating a plurality of the transfer-source storage units into alogical partition region of one transfer-destination storage unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be detailedbased on the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 18 are diagrams for explaining a storage system that is arepresentative embodiment of the present invention. In a storage systemof the present embodiment, there is carried out a process for migratingboth of a configuration with no logical partition function and storeddata in a plurality of, in particular, two transfer-source storage units(100), to one transfer-destination storage unit (110) with a logicalpartition function. The present storage system has a storage controlserver (60) communicably connected to storage units (10) which thesystem has inside, and, under normal conditions, configuration controlof each storage unit (10) is carried out by the storage control server(60), that is, batch control of configuration information (1) is carriedout. Migration is controlled by the storage control server (60). In theevent of the migration, a conversion process is carried out in such amanner that configuration information (1) of each transfer-sourcestorage unit (100) corresponds to each logical partition configurationin the transfer-destination storage unit (110). In addition, aftermigrating the configuration from the transfer source to the transferdestination successively, a process for migrating stored data from thetransfer-source to the transfer-destination configuration is performed.

In the present embodiment, as a migration example, explanation will bemade of the case where an old storage unit (100) is replaced with a newstorage unit (110) as the migration of the configuration and data, thatis, the case where the configuration and stored data of the old storageunit (100) are reflected to an independent logical partitionconfiguration in the new storage unit (110) in order to change to theuse of the new storage unit (110). In addition, explanation will be madein particular of the case where a plurality of the transfer-sourcestorage units 100 are consolidated into one transfer-destination storageunit 110, that is, configuration and data of each transfer-sourcestorage unit 100 is converted to a plurality of independent logicalpartition configurations in one transfer-destination storage unit 110.

<Hardware Configuration>

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a hardware appearance configurationof a storage unit 10 that is one embodiment of the present invention.The storage unit 10 can be configured by, for example, a basic chassis11 and a plurality of extended chassis 12. The basic chassis 11 is aminimum configuration unit of the storage unit 10 and is equipped withboth control function which a controller and others assume and a storagefunction which a storage device assumes. The control function is afunction of controlling storage of data for a storage device in responseto an order from a host unit and others. The controller is configured,for example, by mutually connecting control packages 13 per function.The storage function is a function of storing user data and other datain a storage area. In the case of the present embodiment, a disk drive26 as a storage device provides a storage area. The extended chassis 12is an option of the storage unit 10 and is equipped with a storagefunction, and controlled by the control function which the basic chassis11 has. For example, to the basic chassis 11, four extended chassis 12can be connected. Each chassis is connected by communication cables.

To the basic chassis 11, a plurality of control packages 13, a pluralityof power supply units 14, a plurality of battery units 15, and aplurality of disk drives 26 are detachably provided. To an upper portionetc. of the chassis, a plurality of cooling fans 16 are provided,respectively. The power supply unit 14 supplies power to each unitinside the chassis. The battery unit 15 functions as backup powersupply. The cooling fan 16 cools an interior of the chassis. The diskdrive 26 is a storage device for storing data.

The control package 13 is a module that enables each unit of channeladapters (CHAs) 36, disk adapters (DKAs) 34, and a cache memory 35, etc.as later described, respectively. The control package 13 is one in whicha mechanical structure for attaching the chassis is added to afunction-mounted board. To basic chassis 11, as a control package 13, aplurality of CHA packages, a plurality of DKA packages, one or morememory packages, and others are detachably mounted and can be replacedin units of the control package 13. Each control package 13 is insertedin a slot provided in the chassis and is connected to a board formutually connecting each unit.

<System Configuration>

FIG. 2 shows a system configuration related to a migration system in astorage system of the present embodiment. The present storage systemcomprises transfer-source storage units 100 {100A, 100B}, atransfer-destination storage unit 110, task servers 130 {130A. 130B}, astorage control server 60, an operation client 80, and a communicationmeans for connecting these. For example, the storage system isconfigured so as to have two transfer-source storage units 100A, 100B asthe transfer-source storage unit 100, two task servers 130A, 103B as thecorresponding task server 130, one transfer-destination storage unit110, one storage control server 60, and one operation client 80. Notethat, in the event that the transfer-source/transfer-destination are notdistinguished, they are collectively called “storage system 10” andothers.

As the communication means, the storage system has a network 300,communication routes 200A, 200B, 200C, 210A, 210B, 220A, 220B, andothers. Each unit is equipped with a communication processor unit forcarrying out a communication process on these network 300 andcommunication routes.

The network 300 connects the transfer-source storage units 100A, 100Band the transfer-destination storage unit 110 and the task servers 130A,130B and the storage control server 60 and the operation client 80. Thenetwork 300 is, for example, LAN and others, on which communication forcontrol and others is carried out. To the network 300, a SVP (serviceprocessor) 38 of each storage unit 100, 110 is connected.

The communication routes 220A and 220B connect the transfer-sourcestorage units 100A, 100B and the task servers 130A, 130B, respectively.The communication routes 220A, 220B serve as links for online taskprocesses by the task servers 130A, 130B.

The communication routes 200A, 200B connect the transfer-source storageunits 100A, 100B to the task servers 130A, 130B, respectively. Thecommunication route 200C connects the transfer-destination storage unit110 to the storage control server 60. The communication routes 200A,200B, 200C are links for remote copy control.

The communication routes 210A, 210B connect the transfer-source storageunits 100A, 100B to the transfer-destination storage unit 110,respectively. The communication routes 210A, 210B are links for remotecopy.

Each of the above communication routes comprises, for example, a portequipped to each unit and a communication cable connected between theports. A communication path such as the communication route 200A and thecommunication route 210A, and a communication processor unit equipped toeach unit correspond to, for example, a fiber channel protocol.

Each storage unit 10 has a configuration which comprises a controller, astorage unit, a SVP 38, and others. The controller and the storagedevice are connected. The controller comprises a port 44, a cache memory35, a shared memory 37, and a SVP 38. The port 44, a logical device 42,a cache memory 35, and others are resources useable from the task server130. As a storage volume on the storage device, the storage unit has alogical device 42. The logical device 42 is used to store data inputtedfrom and Outputted to the task server 130. In addition, of the logicaldevices 42, there are CMD devices (command devices) 101, 111, and othersused for carrying out command control. In the present embodiment, theCMD devices 101, 111 are the logical device 42, in particular, forremote copy control. The port 44 is used for communication connectionwith an external unit. In the cache memory 35, I/O data and others forthe logical device 42 are stored.

In each storage unit 10, various pieces of information including theconfiguration information 1 are held on the shared memory 37. Thetransfer-source storage units 100A, 100B hold the configurationinformation 1A, 1B on the shared memory 37, respectively. Thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 holds configuration information 1Con the shared memory 37. The configuration information 1 may not belimited to the shared memory 37 but may be of a form to be held on othermemory in the storage unit 10. The configuration information 1A, 1B ofthe transfer-source storage units 100A, 100B includes logicalconfiguration information such as setting information on the port 44 andthe logical device 42, setting information on the mounted cache memory35, and the like, wherein information related to connection pathconfiguration, logical device configuration, and cache memoryconfiguration, etc. is controlled.

The transfer-source storage units 100A, 100B are existing old storageunits in the event of the migration of configuration and data. Thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 is a new storage unit to be newlyintroduced and to have been introduced in the event of migration. In thepresent embodiment, in particular, two units of the transfer-sourcestorage units 100A, 100B are controlled and the migration ofconfiguration and data is carried out to one transfer-destinationstorage unit 110.

The transfer-source storage unit 100 has no logical partition functionand the transfer-destination storage unit 110 has a logical partitionfunction. The logical partition function is a function of setting twokinds of logical partitions, i.e., a storage logical partition(abbreviated as “SLPR”) 51 and a cache logical partition (abbreviated as“CLPR”) 50, and of enabling control and operations. Thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 has the SLPR 51A and the CLPR 50Athat support the configuration of the transfer-source storage unit 100Aas well as the SLPR 51B and the CLPR 50B that support the configurationof the transfer-source storage unit 110 as a logical partition newly setin accordance with the migration. The configuration information 1C ofthe transfer-destination storage unit 110 is information of constructionthat supports the logical partition configuration by the logicalpartition function.

The SVP 38 is a processor that carries out various kinds of processesrelated to maintenance and control with the corresponding storage unit10 set as a target. The SVP 38 can communicate with the storage controlserver 60 and other external unit on the network 300. The SVP 38 and thestorage control server 60 carry out communication related to control ofthe storage units 100, 110. The SVP 38 is connected to the shared memory37, and accesses the configuration information 1 on the shared memory 37and can be read and written. The SVP 38 is equipped with conventionalmaintenance and control functions and, at the same time, with respect tothe present invention, is, in particular, equipped with a function ofcontrolling the configuration information 1 of the storage unit 10 andcarrying out a communication process concerning the configurationcontrol and migration with the external storage control server 60. Forexample, the SVP 38, which is included in the transfer-source storageunit 100A, controls the configuration information 1A with respect to thetransfer-source storage unit 100A. In the present embodiment, the SVP 38is in the form of being connected to and accommodated in the storageunit 10 and communicably connected to each processor unit in thecontroller. Note that the SVP 38 may be in the form of being externallyconnected to the storage unit 10 or remotely connected via the networkand others. In addition, the SVP 38 may be in the form of installing acontrol program on a general-purpose computer such as a notebook type PCand others or be in the form of a processor dedicated to a controlprocess.

The storage control server 60 is an information processor unit equippedwith a function as a migration control means which carries out migrationcontrol of configuration and stored data of the storage unit 10. Thestorage control server 60 has a function as a configuration controlmeans to carry out configuration control of one or more storage units 10communicably connected via the network 300, that is, batch control ofthe configuration information 1 and, at the same time, has a function asa configuration converting means to carry out a conversion process ofthe configuration information 1 for migration. The storage controlserver 60 has a program such as a storage control program 68implementing each function and a remote copy control program 69, and acontrol DB (storage control database) 64 that stores the configurationinformation 1 (1A, 1B, 1C and others) of each storage unit 10. Theconfiguration information 1 held in the control DB 64 includes a copyrelated to the configuration information 1 which each storage unit 10holds on the common memory 37.

The storage control server 60 acquires the configuration information onthe shared memory by a collection process etc. through communicationwith the control DB 64 via the network 300 under the normal conditionsand is reflected to the configuration information 1 of the control DB64.

The task servers 130A, 130B are information processor units which serveas hosts to the storage unit 10, and are used by each user. The taskserver 130 carries out a system operation such as an online task processetc. by the use of the storage volume inside the storage unit 10 and bythe functions to be provided. In the communication routes 220A, 220B,one or more ports are used among the ports 44 which the storage unit 10has. The task server 130 stores the data in the logical device 42 of thestorage unit 100. In the foregoing system operation, for example, anaccess is made for requesting a data I/O to the storage unit 100A by astorage utilization program on the task server 130A, and the online taskprocess is carried out by the application program on task server 130A.The same is applied to the task server 130B and the transfer-sourcestorage unit 100B. The host unit connected to the storage unit 10 isexpressed by, for example, “personal computer”, “workstation”,“mainframe computer”, and others, in addition to the form of the taskserver 130.

The operation client 80 is an information processor unit in which acontroller authorized to control the system carries out an operationsuch as an instruction related to control of the configuration of thestorage unit 10 and to migration of the configuration and data. Theoperation client 80 is, for example, in the form of a PC. In the presentembodiment, the whole storage administrator controller 53, who is aadministrator for controlling the whole storage system or the wholetransfer-destination storage unit 110, operates the operation client 80,and issues directions related to the configuration and data migration tothe storage control server 60. The operation client 80 transmits variouskinds of requests to the storage control server 60 via the network 300,and the storage control server 60 processes the requests and transmits aresponse to the operation client 80. On the output unit of the operationclient 80, various pieces of information are displayed by a userinterface of Web page, and others. Note that, from the operation client80, it is possible to communicate with the task server 130 and the SVP38 of each storage unit 10 via the network 300.

The whole storage administrator 53 selects the target storage unit 10from a plurality of storage units 10 controlled by the storage controlserver 60 using the operation client 80 and can carry out the operation.

In the event that the logical configuration of the storage unit 10 whichis controlled by the storage control server 60 is changed, the wholestorage administrator 53 gives an instruction to change theconfiguration to the storage control 60 by the use of the operationclient 80. The storage control server 60 transmits the setting updateinformation, that is, the information to update the configurationinformation 1 held by the shared memory 37 to the SVP 38 of the targetstorage unit 10 in accordance with directions of the operation client80. The SVP 38 actually implements the change of the logicalconfiguration of the storage unit 10 by reflecting the setting updateinformation received from the storage control server 60 with respect tothe configuration information 1 on the shared memory 37.

<Migration Process>

A migration process in the present storage system is generally carriedout as follows. As a migration example, in particular, there is shownthe case where the configurations of two transfer-source storage units100A, 100B are consolidated, as independent logical partitionconfigurations, into an interior of one transfer-destination storageunit 110. In a procedure for the migration process, operations by theadministrator are included partly in operations of entering instructionsor setting hardware and others.

Under the conditions before the migration, the transfer-source storageunits 100A, 100B have control configurations 1A, 1B controlled by thestorage control server 60, and the storage control server 60 holdsrespective copies of the configuration information 1A, 1B asconfiguration information 1 in the control DB 64. Thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 newly introduced and installed tothe old system is connected to the network 300, and the configuration iscontrolled in the same manner as the existing transfer-source storageunits 100A, 100B by the storage control server 60. That is, the storagecontrol server 60 reads the configuration information 1C on the sharedmemory 37 via the SVP 38 of the transfer-destination storage unit 110and stores it in the control DB 64. For the condition of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, setting of the logicalconfiguration inside the storage unit may not particularly be carriedout and the condition, in which the logic configuration may be set as itis in the default condition, is acceptable. Or, the condition, in whichsuch logical partition that the migration of the configuration and thestored data from the transfer-source storage unit 100 is not assumed maybe set in advance, is acceptable, too.

Under the condition in which the transfer-source storage units 100A,100B and the transfer-destination storage unit 110 are controlled by thestorage control server 60, the whole storage administrator 53 gives aninstruction to carry out a migration process to the storage controlserver 60 by the use of the operation client 80. In the event of theabove instruction, the whole storage administrator 53 chooses thetransfer-source storage units 100A, 100B as well as thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, and designates a CLPR name and aSLPR name respectively for the logical partitions to be prepared at thetransfer destination.

The storage control server 60 first checks the internal resources ofports, logical devices, and others of the transfer-destination storageunit 110 to judge whether or not the configuration of thetransfer-source storage units 100A, 100B can be migrated as the logicalpartition configuration of the transfer-destination storage unit 110based on the content directed from the whole storage administrator 53via the operation client 80. As a result of the check, if the migrationis possible, the storage control server 60 converts the conventionalconfiguration information 1A, 1B in the transfer-source storage units100A, 100B to the configuration information 1C on a new logicalpartition configuration of the transfer-destination storage unit 110 bythe storage control program 68. In the event of the conversion process,the latest configuration information 1 on each storage unit 10 held inthe control DB 64 is used.

In the storage control server 60, the configuration information 1converted to support the transfer-destination logical partitionconfiguration is used as the information for updating the setting updateinformation of the transfer-destination storage unit 110, that is, theinformation for updating the setting of the configuration. And, aportion of the configuration information 1 of the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 held in the control DB 64 is first updated by thissetting update information. And, the storage control server 60 transmitsthe setting update information, directions of setting the updateprocess, and others to the SVP 38 of the transfer-destination storageunit 110.

The SVP 38 of the transfer-destination storage unit 110 updatesconfiguration information 1C on the shared memory 37 by the receivedsetting update information since it receives the setting updateinformation and implements the migration of the logical configuration inthe logical partition configuration on which a conversion process hasbeen carried out as the transfer destination such as the SLPRs 51A, 51Band the CLPRs 50A, 50B as the logical partition.

In the event that each of the CLPR name and the SLPR name assigned asthe setting item of the transfer destination is duplicated with theexisting logical partition name or is invalid setting, or in the eventthat the migration process is carried out with the unset name, forexample, a mandatory assignment of a unique name is carried out, on aside of the storage control server 60.

Upon completion of the migration of the logical configuration, if thedata migration is read between the transfer-source storage unit 100 andthe transfer-destination storage unit 110, that is, in the case of thecondition in which the remote copy environment has been created, theremote copy process is carried out for the stored data between thetransfer-source storage unit 100 and the transfer-destination storageunit 110. That is, based on the instruction/control by the storagecontrol server 60, by using the logical device 42 of the transfer-sourcestorage unit 100 set as a master volume and the logical device 42uniquely associated with an interior of the transfer-destination logicalpartition corresponding to the master volume set as a slave volume, theremote copy process is carried out between the two volumes. By this, thedata stored in the old storage unit is migrated to the new storage unit,that is, copy or migration is carried out. In the case of the presentembodiment, as a means to migrate the data, a remote copy function isutilized, which is a function of carrying out copy of the logical devicedata between the storage units 10 without interposing the host unit. Thepresent remote copy function itself uses a conventional technique. Asthe means to migrate the data, not only remote copy function but anothermeans as shown in the foregoing conventional technique may be used.

Before starting the data migration, the preparation must be finished.The condition, in which preparation for data migration is finished whenthe remote copy function is used, means a state in which the followingconditions are satisfied: (1) the transfer-source storage unit 100 andthe transfer-destination storage unit 110 have remote copy functions;(2) in the communication routes 200A, 200B, 200C for remote copycontrol, the logical devices such as the CMD devices 101, 111 for thestorage control server 60 to carry out the remote copy control areensured and connected in advance; and (3) the communication routes 210A,210B are ensured for remote copy, that is, for data transmission betweenthe transfer-source storage unit 100 and the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110.

The CMD devices 101, 111 are logical devices ensure specially for remotecopy control. At the CMD devices 101, 111, a command from the storagecontrol server 60 is received and, based on the received command, theremote copy process between the chassis is carried out by a process ofthe DKA 34 and others in the administrator.

After the start of data migration, data is transmitted from a primaryvolume to a secondary volume and vice versa between the storage unitsthrough the transmission routes 210A, 210B while the remote copy controlis being carried out through the communication routes 200A, 200B, 200Cby the storage control server 60.

After completion of migration of the logical configuration and data, byonly connecting each of the associated task servers 130, 130A, 130B toeach logical partition in the transfer-destination storage unit 110, thetask can be continued without carrying out particularly the complicatedoperation.

<Physical Configuration and Logical Configuration of Storage Unit>

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the outline of the overallconfiguration of a storage unit having a conventional configuration,which is related to the present embodiment. A lower side indicates aphysical configuration 28 of the storage unit, and an upper sideindicates a logical configuration 40 of the storage unit established onthe physical configuration 28. The configuration of the transfer-sourcestorage units 100A, 100B corresponds to this physical configuration 28and the logical configuration 40. The transfer-destination storage unit110 is configured by a logical partition configuration added to thisphysical configuration 28 and the logical configuration 40.

The physical configuration 28 is associated with the storage unit 10.The storage control unit 29 is associated with the basic chassis 11 andthe administrator. The storage drive unit 30 is associated with theextended chassis 12. The storage control unit 29 has CHAs 36 and DKAs34, the switch unit 33 has a cache memory 35, a shared memory 37, andSVPs 38. The storage drive unit 30 has a disk-drive mounted box 31. Onthe disk-drive mounted box 31, a plurality of disk drives 32 aremounted.

In the storage control unit 29, each of the CHAs 36 controls datatransmission between the host and others communicably connected to this.Each of the CHAs 36 is equipped with a communication port 36A. To thecommunication port 36A, a communication cable is connected. To thephysical configuration 28, for example, as many as thirty-two pieces ofCHAs 36 can be provided. For the CHAs 36, for example, those thatsupport each communication protocol are prepared in accordance with thekind of host units and others to be communicably connected, such as aCHA for open system, a CHA for mainframe system, and others. For theCHAs 36, for example, those associated with each communication protocolare prepared in accordance with the kind of communicably connected hostunits and others are prepared. Each of the CHAs 36 receives a commandand data having data reading and writing requested from the host unitand others connected through the communication port 36A, and operates inaccordance with the received commands.

Each of the DKAs 34 may be installed in a plurality of quantities, suchas 4 pieces, 8 pieces, and others in the physical configuration 28. Eachof the DKAs 34 controls data communication with each disk drive 32,respectively. Each of the DKAs 34 and each disk drive 32 are connectedvia a communication network, for example, such as a SNA and others, andcarries out block-by-block data transmission in conformity to the fiberchannel protocol. Each DKA 34 monitors the condition of the disk drive32, and the monitoring results are transmitted to the SVP 38 via theinternal network 45.

In a data processing flow, when the CHA 36 receives a read command fromthe host computer via the communication port 36A, this read command isstored in the shared memory 37. The DKA 34 refers to the shared memory37 from time to time and when any unprocessed read command is found, thedata is read from the disk drive 32 and stored in the cache memory 35.The CHA 36 reads the data migrated to the cache memory 35 and transmitsit to the host computer via the communication port 36A. In addition,when the CHA 36 receives a write command from the host computer, thiswrite command is stored in the shared memory 37. The CHA 36 stores thereceived data (user data) in the cache memory 35. The CHA 21 notifiesthe completion of writing to the host computer after the data is storedin the cache memory 35. The DKA 34 reads the data stored in the cachememory 35 in accordance with the write command stored in the sharedmemory 37 and stores it in a specified disk drive 32.

Each CHA 36 and each DAK 34 comprise a printed circuit board on which,for example, processors, memories, etc. are mounted, and a controlprogram housed in the memory, respectively, and, by collaboration ofthese pieces of hardware and software, the relevant specified functionscan be actualized.

The cache memory 35 comprises, for example, a nonvolatile memory, andstores transfer data, for example, of user data and others on sides ofthe host unit and the disk drive 32.

The shared memory 37 comprises, for example, a nonvolatile memory, andstores, for example, control information, management information, andothers. The control memory of the controller has the same configurationas that of the shared memory 37. In addition, control information andother information can be multiplicity-controlled by a plurality ofshared memories 37.

The shared memory 37 and the cache memory 35 may be provided in aplurality of quantities. In addition, on the same memory substrate, thecache memory 35 and the shared memory 37 may be mounted so as to bemixed. Or, a portion of the area is used as a cache area by one memory,and the other area may be used as a control area.

The switch unit 33 connects each CHA 36, each DKA 34, the cache memory35, and the shared memory 37, respectively. By this, all the CHAs 36 andthe DKAs 34 are able to access the cache memory 35 and the shared memory37, respectively. The switch unit 33 may be able to be configured as,for example, a super-high-speed crossbar switch etc.

In the physical configuration 28, a large number of disk drives 32 maybe mounted. Each disk drive 32 is a physical storage device and, forexample, can be actualized as a hard disk drive (HDD), a semiconductormemory device, and others.

Note that the storage resources used by the physical configuration 28are not necessarily mounted in the physical configuration 28 of the samestorage unit. It is possible to import and use the storage resourceslocated outside the physical configuration 28 as if they are their ownstorage resources.

The SVP 38 is communicably connected to the CHA 36 and the DKA 34 viathe internal network 45. The SVP 38 collects various pieces ofinformation of the storage unit 10. In addition, by the configurationfor the SVP 38 to connect the external network 300 such as LAN andothers, it is possible to control the storage unit 10 via the SVP 38from the external control device. In the case of the present embodiment,the storage unit 10 is able to be controlled from the storage controlserver 60 via the SVP 38. Note that the SVP 38 may be in the form ofbeing connected outside the storage control unit 29.

In the various pieces of information held on the shared memory 37, thereis held the setting control information of the storage unit 10containing the configuration information 1 on the logical configuration40 and the physical configuration 28.

The logical configuration 40 includes connection-port configurationinformation, logical-device configuration information, and others whichare necessary when seen from the host side and when the storage unit 10is actually used. The logical configuration 40 includes a RAID group 41,a logical device 42, ports 44, 44A, a host group 43, a cache memory 35,a shared memory 37, and others. The logical configuration information onthese logical configurations 40 are contained in the configurationinformation 1.

The RAID group 41 establishes the RAID configuration to use multipledisk drives 32 as virtual logical areas. The RAID group 41 includes thesetting for the disk drive 32. Though it differs in accordance with theRAID configuration and others, for example, on the physical storage areawhich a four-in-a-set disk drive 32 provides, the RAID group 41 which isa virtual logical area is established. Furthermore, on the RAID group41, one or more virtual logical devices are set as logical units (LU),which can be used from the host side.

The logical device 42 is a storage volume which is actually accessibleby the host on the RAID group 41. The logical device 42 is assigned tothe host group 43 and is used.

The host group 43 actualizes access security and access switches, whichenable the use of the logical device 42 and the device configurationvarying in accordance with each host in such form that a plurality ofhosts can access the same ports 44, 44A through fiber channel switchesand other devices. It is possible to assign the logical device 42 andothers under the command of each host group 43. The host group 43 is notparticularly set when a single host makes an access to one port 44A.

The ports 44, 44A are used for communication between the storage unit 10and the host and the other external devices. The port 44 becomesinformation assigned to the connection path configuration and thelogical device 42 in the task server 130 and others. The port 44integrates a plurality of ports 44A. The connection path (also called“logical path”) is a logical access route to the logical device 42 whichbecomes a target when the host and others use the storage unit 10. Theports 44, 44A are assumed to correspond to the CHAs 36 as actualphysical positions, but are expressed as ports as logical configurationinformation.

The cache memory 35, the shared memory 37 and other memories have thespecified capacity secured and are used for the access to each logicaldevice 42. The cache memory 35 is primarily used for storing processingdata, while the shared memory 37 is primarily used for storing controlinformation and others.

<Logical Partition>

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a SLPR 51 {51A, 51B} and a CLPR 50{50A, 50B}, both of which are logical partitions. The SLPR 51 is apartition for a logical area of a storage configuration such as aconnection configuration or an assignment configuration of logicaldevice 42 when the transfer-destination storage unit 110 is actuallyused from a side of the task server 130 or an assignment configurationof logical device 42. The CLPR 50 is a partition to logically distributethe cache memory 35 area used as a shared area and used as a splitcache. For the logical partition system, it is established as the CLPR50 independent to the cache configuration. By providing the CLPR 50, anaccess configuration dedicated to the cache area and others will beenabled.

Now, a description will be made of the outline of the logical partition.As the size and the capacity of the storage unit increase, a mode to useone storage unit by a plurality of operating systems has been adopted.However, it has become increasingly difficult for an administrator tounderstand the operation mode of a plurality of operating systems,increase and decrease the settings, and vary the configuration andothers in the storage unit in accordance with the operation mode. Themultiple operating systems support, for example, multiple points,groups, applications, and others.

Meanwhile, if the administrator of each system in the multiple operatingsystems is allowed to change the configuration of the storage unit, inthe event that the administrator who controls a certain system intendsto change the configuration of the storage unit, the administratormistakenly changes the area in which other system is used or adverseinfluences on other systems occur. In addition, in the resources such ascache memories which multiple operating systems share in the storageunit, the system is affected by a processing load of the other systemsdue to access competition to the resource shared by each system.

Therefore, the logical partition function is introduced, each resourceand area which the multiple operating systems use are logically dividedto configure a logical partition, and a configuration of carrying outaccess restriction in each logical partition is adopted. In a specificlogical partition, by allowing only a specific administrator to carryout an operation and control such as a setting change and others, itbecomes possible to operate its own environment without being affectedby the other systems with which the storage unit is shared. Note thatthe specific administrator, in actuality, indicates an assigned accountfor the administrator. The transfer-destination storage unit 110 isequipped with the logical partition function as described above.

FIG. 4 shows the condition in which, for example, two SLPRs 51A and 51Bare defined as one SLPR 51 in the logical configuration 40. For each ofthe SLPRs 51A and 51B, one or more out of many RAID groups 41 controlledby the storage unit 10 are assigned. In addition, to each of the SLPRs51A, 51B, one or more ports 44 to be used are assigned. From the area ofthe cache memory 35, the specified capacity secured and the CLPRs 50A,50B are cut out and are assigned to the SLPRs 51A, 51B, respectively.

The setting work of the above-mentioned SLPR 51 and CLPR 50 is able tobe implemented by the whole storage administrator 53, that is, by a useraccount which can operate the whole storage unit. Furthermore, the wholestorage administrator 53 sets and assigns the partition controllers 52A,52B, that is, user accounts which can control the logical partition withrespect to the SLPRs 51A, 51B including the CLPRs 50A, 50B,respectively. By these settings, the partition administrator 52A isenabled for definition and change of the connection path configurationas a logical configuration within a scope of the SLPR 51A including theCLPR 50A only and operating and control work such as assignment andchange of the logical device 42 within a scope of the RAID group 41given. The same is applied to the partition administrator 52B. Thepartition administrators 52A, 52B become administrators of each systemin multiple operating systems.

By the logical partition configuration, the partition administrator 52Ain one system has all the operations such as reference, setting change,and others to the SLPR 51B in the other system and resources outside thelogical partition restricted and disabled. In the similar manner, thepartition administrator 52B is allowed for operation and control withinthe range of the SLPR 51B only including the CLPR 50B, and has all theoperations of reference and setting change of resources outside the SLPR51A and the logical partition restricted and disabled.

With respect to the CLPRs 50A, 50B, because each of them occupies thearea of each cache memory 35, they are not subject to detrimentaleffects such as access load and interference of other logical partitionsand from the outside of logical partitions. By this, the user who usesthe logical partition is enabled for operation and control as if eachone is assigned with an individual storage unit.

<Storage Control Server>

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a configuration of storage control server60. The storage control server 60 is not limited to the server form asshown in the present specifications but may be considered as a hostcomputer expressed as, for example, personal computer, workstation,mainframe computer, and others.

The storage control server 60 comprises central processing unit(CPU/MPU) 61, storage device 62, memory controller 66 and memory 67,network communication interface 70, I/O controller (extension bus) 71and extension slot 72, display 73, keyboard 74, mouse 75 and others.

The storage device 62 is a hard disk drive and others, in which storagecontrol program file 63, control DB 64, remote copy control program file65 and others are stored. The network communication interface 69 carriesout communication processing on the network 300. In the I/O controller71 and the extension slot 72, various kinds of I/O units are controlled.The display 73, keyboard 74, mouse 75, and others are used when thestorage control server 60 is directly operated and configurationcontrol, migration processing, and other setting processing, areimplemented.

By the execution of the storage control program file 63, a storagecontrol program 68 is loaded on memory 67. By executing the remote copycontrol program file 65, a remote copy control program 69 is loaded onmemory 67. The central processing unit 61 operates in accordance witheach program on memory 67 to carry out processing related toconfiguration control and migration.

The storage control program 68 more specifically comprises aconfiguration control program 68A, a configuration control table 68B, amigration configuration conversion program 68C, a migrationconfiguration conversion table 68D, an operation client communicationtable 68E, an user account control program 68F, and a user accountcontrol table 68G. Each piece of table information such as configurationcontrol table 68B and others which are controlled by the storage controlprogram 68 and control information such as system information and othersare stored in the control DB 64 and controlled. In the user accountcontrol by the user account control program 68F, controls forcontrollers such as the whole storage administrator 53, partitionadministrators 52A, 52B, and others should be included as users.

<Operation Client>

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that indicates the configuration of theoperation client 80. The operation client 80 is called a client in thepresent specifications, but for example, it may be considered as a hostcomputer expressed as a server, personal computer, workstation, mainframe computer, and others.

The operation client 80 comprises a central processing unit (CPU/MPU)81, a storage device 82, a memory controller 84 and a memory 85, anetwork communication interface 87, an I/O controller (extension bus) 88and an extended slot 89, a display 90, a keyboard 91, a mouse 92, andothers.

To the storage device 82, the operation program file 83 is stored, andby executing the present file, the operation program 86 is loaded on thememory 85. The central processing unit 81 carries out processing relatedto configuration control and migration by operating in accordance withthe operation program 86 on the memory 85. The network communicationinterface 87 carries out communication processing on the network 300. Inthe I/O controller 88 and the extended slot 89, various kinds of I/Ounits are controlled. The display 73, the keyboard 74, the mouse 75, andothers are used by the whole storage administrator 53 to implementprocessing of configuration control and migration and operations forother setting processing, and others.

<Configuration and Processing Related to Migration Control>

FIG. 7 shows a block configuration related to migration control of aconfiguration and data and the correlation between a process and anoperation. The transfer-source storage unit 100 (corresponds to thereference numeral “100A”, “100B”), the transfer-destination storage unit110, the storage control server 60, and the operation client 80 areconnected by the above-mentioned communication means. The whole storageadministrator 53 operates the operation client 80 and carries out theoperation related to migration of configuration and data.

The transfer-source storage unit 100 and the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 are logically formed with, for example, the SVP 38described above, the shared memory 37, the cache memory 35, the logicaldevice 42, the CMD devices 101, 111, and others, and thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 is equipped with a logicalpartition function which comprises the logical partition such as theSLPR 51 and the CLPR 50.

In each of the transfer-source and the transfer-destination storageunits (100, 110), the configuration information 1 including the logicalconfiguration controls on shard memory 37. The storage control server 60collects the configuration information 1, which is the controlinformation, by the configuration control program 68A via the SVP 38 ofeach storage unit (100, 110) and stores each of acquired configurationinformation 1 in the configuration control table 68B. The configurationcontrol table 68B is controlled in the control DB 64.

With the configuration of each storage unit (100, 110) controlled asdescribed above, the whole storage administrator 53 gives directions ofmigration processing to the storage control server 60 by the use of theoperation program 86 which operates on the operation client 80. In thepresent direction, the transfer-source and the transfer-destinationdesignations are included. The storage control server 60 receives thedirections from the operation program 86 by the operation clientcommunication program 68E and when it receives the direction, thestorage control server 60 handles the directions to the configurationcontrol program 68A.

When the configuration control program 68A receives the migrationprocessing directions, the program judges it not as a regular storageunit operation/running process but a migration process to the logicalpartition configuration, and requests the migration configurationconversion program 68C to carry out the conversion process for settingparameters about the configuration information 1 for migration. Notethat, in the event that the direction from a side of the operationclient 80 is a direction of the operation/running process of the regularstorage unit, the process is carried out by the configuration controlprogram 68A.

The migration configuration conversion program 68C converts theconfiguration information 1 of the transfer-source storage unit 100which is controlled by the configuration control table 68B into thesetting parameters necessary for a migration process to the logicalpartition configuration by using the migration configuration conversiontable 68D in response to the request. After the conversion, themigration configuration conversion program 68C directly rewrites theconfiguration information 1 of the area of the relevanttransfer-destination storage unit 110 in the configuration control table68B with the setting parameters prepared by conversion used as thesetting update information for the transfer-destination storage unit 110and notifies the configuration control program 68A of completion ofprocessing. The setting update information is the information used forupdating the setting concerning the configuration of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, that is, the configurationinformation 1C. In the setting update information, there included is thelogical partition information established by the conversion processing,that is, the logical configuration information that supports theconfiguration in which the transfer-source logical configuration with nological partition is converted to the transfer-destination logicalpartition configuration of the SLPR 51 and others.

FIG. 9 indicates the configuration of the configuration control table68B. The configuration control table 68B processes the configurationinformation by the control table for each storage unit. In addition, themigration configuration conversion table 68D is prepared in accordancewith each piece of configuration information 1 in the configurationcontrol table 68B. That is, in accordance with the configuration of thestorage unit 10, the construction of each piece of configurationinformation 1 varies, and with the difference reflected, the migrationconfiguration conversion table 68D is prepared.

The configuration control program 68A carries out the setting updateprocessing of the logical configuration of the relevanttransfer-destination storage unit 110 in accordance with the content ofthe configuration information 1 of the relevant transfer-destinationstorage unit 110, that is, the setting update information, which isupdated by the conversion in the configuration control table 68D. Thatis, the configuration control program 68A transmits the setting updateinformation for updating the configuration information 1 on sharedmemory 37 to the transfer-destination storage unit 110, and by thisinformation, the configuration information 1 on shared memory 37 isupdated. Because in the setting update information, the logicalpartition information is included, by updating at thetransfer-destination it is possible to update the configuration to thelogical configuration which adopts the logical partition configuration.

The configuration control program 68A detects the remote copyconfiguration between the transfer-source storage unit 100 and thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 from the current configurationinformation 1 of each storage unit 10 in the configuration control table68B when migration of the configuration to the transfer-destinationlogical partition by the above-mentioned processing and requests theremote copy control program 69 to carry out a remote copy betweenlogical devices which achieve one-to-one association between thetransfer-source and the transfer-destination The remote copyconfiguration is a configuration such as communication route and othersestablished to copy data between the copy-source logical device and thecopy-destination logical device. In FIG. 7, reference symbol P denotesthe copy-source (primary) logical device in remote copying, andreference symbol S denotes the copy-destination (secondary) logicaldevice. When remote copying is carried out, in the preceding stage,between the copy-source logical device P and the copy-destinationlogical device S, communication routes for copy data transmission forremote copy, that is, between the ports, such as communication routes210A, 210B, have been established. In addition, communication routes forremote copy control with the CMD devices 101, 111 in each storage unit10, such as the communication routes 200A, 200B, 200C, have beenestablished.

The remote control program 69 carries out remote copy control to the CMDdevices 101, 111 to actually carry out data copying between logicaldevices, and when this copy processing is completed, notifies the effectto the configuration control program 68A.

The configuration control program 68A requests the operation clientcommunication program 68E to notify the processing completion to theoperation program 86 when migration of the configuration and migrationof the stored data to the transfer-destination logical partition arecompleted by the above processing. And the operation clientcommunication program 68E notifies the operation program 86 of theoperation client 80 of the completion of migration processing of theconfiguration and the data based on the directions. The whole storageadministrator 53 who uses the operation client 80 understands thecompletion of migration processing by the notice.

<Flow of Migration Processing>

FIG. 8 is a time chart that indicates correlation of each processingunit and flow of processing related to FIG. 7. As a processing flow,first of all, as the prerequisite condition, the configuration of thetransfer-source storage unit 100 is controlled by the storage controlserver 60. That is, the storage control server 60 collects theconfiguration information 1 from the transfer-source storage unit 100from time to time and stores the latest configuration information 1 inthe configuration control table 68B in the control DB 64.

In procedure S1, to an existing storage system, the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 which has a logical partition function is newlyintroduced and installed. The transfer-destination storage unit 110 isconnected to the network 300.

In procedure S2, the whole storage administrator 53 is intervened andcarries out remote copy environment creation work in advance. In thisoperation, the whole storage administrator 53 installs and sets hardwareso that remote copying by the remote copy function is ready to becarried out between the transfer-source storage unit 100 and thetransfer-destination storage unit 110. For example, the communicationcable is connected across ports of each of the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination storage units 100, 110 and setting of connectionpaths and others is carried out to secure the communication routes 210A,210B for remote copying. In addition, by connecting the storage controlserver 60 to ports of each of the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination storage units 100, 110 by the communication cableto set connection paths and others, CMD device 101, 111 andcommunication routes 200A, 200B, and 200C for remote copy control aresecured. The present operation may be of the processing form implementedat the timing other than this. For example, at the timing in which theremote copy environment creation is required, the direction is outputtedto the operation client 80, and the whole storage administrator 53 isprompted to carry out the operation to create the remote copyenvironment.

By procedure S3, the operation client 80 directs the storage controlserver 60 to collect the initial configuration after the newintroduction with the transfer-destination storage 110 kept undercontrol by the storage control server 60. By the way, such a mode may beadopted that the storage control server 60 collects and acquires thelatest configuration information 1 of the transfer-source storage unit100 at the timing same as that for collecting the configurationinformation 1 of the transfer-destination storage unit 110.

By procedure S4, based on the direction, the storage control server 60collects various kinds of control information including theconfiguration information 1 stored in shared memory 37 of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 via the SVP 38 on the network 300.By the execution of procedure S4, the storage control server 60understands the configuration of each of the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination storage unit 100, 110 and responds the effect tothe operation client 80.

With each configuration information 1 of the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination storage units 100, 110 acquired by the storagecontrol server 60, by procedure S5, the whole storage administrator 53selects and designates the target transfer-source storage unit 100 andthe transfer-destination storage unit 110 and directs from the operationclient 80 to the storage control server 60 to carry out migrationprocessing.

In procedure S6, the storage control server 60 compares designatedresources of the transfer-source and the transfer-destination storageunits 100, 110, and judges whether or not the configuration of thetransfer-source storage unit 100 is able to be moved to thetransfer-destination storage unit 110. That is, the storage controlserver 60 confirms resources such as ports, cache, logical device, andothers by referring to the configuration control table 68B and judgeswhether the transfer-source logical configuration can be moved to theconfiguration of the logical partition of the transfer-destination SLPR51 and others in accordance with the designation. In the vent that thestorage control server judges it possible to carry out the migrationbased on the designation from the whole storage administrator 53, thenext processing can be implemented, and the storage control servernotifies the response of the effect to the operation client 80. Inaddition, if it is judged impossible to carry out migration based on thedesignation, the error information to the effect that “the migrationbased on the designation is impossible” is notified to the operationclient 80. By the way, in this process, the case in which migration tothe designated logical partition configuration is carried out inaccordance wit the direction from the operation client 80 is discussed,but a mode to carry out migration to the configuration close to thatdirected even if the migration to the logical partition configuration asdirected is impossible may be adopted.

By procedure S7, the operation client 80 continually carries out themigration processing in accordance with the response from the storagecontrol server 60. For example, when the designated migration is able tobe implemented, the subsequent processing, that is, configurationmigration processing is automatically started. Or, the results of thejudgment of S6 are displayed at the operation client 80 so that thewhole storage administrator 53 is allowed to confirm that the designatedmigration is ready to be carried out. And at the operation client 80,the input of direction to start migration processing by the wholestorage administrator is received, and when the direction is entered,the direction is transmitted to the storage control server 60, andconfiguration migration processing is started. Or after the adequacy ofmigration is judged in accordance with the direction of migrationprocessing at the storage control server 60, if migration is possible,migration processing is automatically started.

By procedure S8, the storage control server 60 carries out configurationinformation 1 conversion processing for configuration migration andprocessing to update the configuration information 1 of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 in the configuration control table68B. By the migration configuration conversion program 68C and others,the configuration information 1 of the transfer-source storage unit 100is converted to the configuration information 1 that corresponds to theSLPR 51 and the CLPR 50 of the transfer-destination storage unit 110 andthe information prepared by the conversion is updated as theconfiguration information 1 of the transfer-destination storage unit110. To the portion of the configuration information 1 of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 in the configuration control table68B, the information prepared by the conversion is written.

By procedure S9, based on the conversion processing and updating ofconfiguration control table 68B, the storage control server 60 transmitsthe setting update information to update the configuration of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 to the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110, and updating of the transfer-destination logicalconfiguration is thereby directed.

By procedure S10, based on the setting update information received fromthe storage control server 60 at the transfer-destination storage unit110, updating the configuration information 1 on the shared memory 37via the SVP 38, updating processing to the logical configurationincluding the logical partition configuration is carried out. By thisupdate processing, the new logical partition configuration in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 is established. After updatingprocessing, update completion is notified from the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 to the storage control server 60.

After completion of updating of the transfer-destination configuration,if the remote copy environment creation of S2 is finished, the next datamigration processing is automatically started.

By procedures S11 and S12, remote copy processing is carried out for thedata of the logical device subject to migration between thetransfer-source storage unit 100 and the transfer-destination storageunit 110. By procedure S11, the remote copy control program 69 of thestorage control server 60 directs the CMD devices 101, 111 of each ofthe transfer-source and the transfer-destination storage units 100, 110to carry out remote copy processing by pair control between logicaldevices of the transfer-source and the transfer-destination storageunits 100, 110 subject to data migration.

By procedure S12, based on the direction received by CMD devices 101,111 of each of the storage units 100, 110, remote copy processingcorresponding to the direction is carried out between controllers. Datacopy processing is carried out between controllers of storage units 100,110 with the logical device subject to data migration of thetransfer-source storage unit 100 designated as the copy-transfer-sourcelogical device P and the logical device assigned by the logicalpartition configuration of the transfer-destination storage unit 110uniquely associated with is designated as copy-transfer-destinationlogical device S. When remote copy processing in multiple logicaldevices subject to data migration is completed, the data migrationcompletion is notified to the storage control server 60.

By procedure S13, the storage control server 60 notifies the operationclient 80 of the completion of migration processing for theconfiguration and stored data. By this, at the operation client 80, thewhole storage administrator 53 understands that the migration ofconfiguration and data has been completed.

Thereafter, by procedure S14, the whole storage administrator 53operates the operation client 80 and sets the user account resultingfrom the migration of configuration to the storage control server 60.The user account control program 68F of the storage control server 60carries out the setting to the user account control table 68G. By thissetting, registration of user account for each administrator to be setfor each logical partition in the logical partition configuration of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 after completion of migration,that is, the SLPR 51 or CLPR 50 with each transfer-source logicalpartition reflected is carried out, or change and updating to theexisting user account are carried out. For example, in the event thatthe administrator of each transfer-source storage unit 100 beforemigration is set as a administrator for each logical partition in thetransfer-destination storage unit as it is, as shown in FIG. 4,individual administrator is set as is the case of partitionadministrators 52A, 52B for each logical partition.

Now, brief explanation will be made on the pair control in the remotecopy control by the remote copy function, which is a conventionaltechnology. In the remote copy function, let the storage volume which isthe copy processing unit be, for example, a logical device. Thecopy-transfer-source logical device P and the copy-transfer-destinationlogical device S are set as a copy pair. As the state transition of thecopy pair, the condition in which the data of the copy-transfer-sourcelogical device P is not at all reflected to thecopy-transfer-destination logical device S because the copy-pairrelation is cancelled is expressed as the pair cancelled state. It isexpressed as pair generation to establish the copy pair from the paircancelled state and to implement the initial overall copy from thecopy-transfer-source logical device P to the copy-transfer-destinationlogical device S. The state in which the initial overall copy iscompleted and the data updated by the copy-transfer-source logicaldevice P is reflected in synchronism with the copy-transfer-destinationlogical device S is expressed as the pair synchronous state. It isexpressed as pair division to temporarily cancel the synchronous stateonly from the pair synchronous state with the copy-pair relationmaintained. The state of copy pair with the synchronous state onlytemporarily cancelled by pair division is expressed as the pair dividedstate. In the pair divided state, the update data of thecopy-transfer-source logical device P is not reflected to thecopy-transfer-destination logical device S but the difference from thecopy-to data by copy-transfer-source updating isdifferential-controlled. It is expressed as pair-re-synchronism toreturn from the pair-divided state to the pair synchronous state. In theevent that pair-re-synchronism is implemented from the pair dividedstate to the pair synchronous state, the logical device data is entirelycopied but the updated differential of the copy-transfer-source logicaldevice P is copied to the copy-transfer-destination logical device S toachieve the synchronous state. By completely canceling the relation ofcopy pair is expressed as pair cancellation. In the present remote copyfunction, multiple logical devices can be simultaneously handled.

<Control Information>

FIGS. 9 through 14 are diagrams to explain the control information whichthe storage control server 60 has for the configuration control andmigration control. FIG. 9 indicates the detailed content of theconfiguration control table 68B in the storage control server 60. Theconfiguration control table 68B comprises a storage unit control table120 and control table 121 of each storage unit 10. The storage unitcontrol table 120 controls the storage unit itself under the control ofthe storage control serve 60 and comprises the control table 121 of eachstorage unit 10. In each control table 121, the configurationinformation 1 obtained from the storage unit 10 is controlled. Becausein each storage unit 10, the configuration information 1 is held onshared memory 37, in each control table 121, the copy is stored. In thecase of FIG. 2, the storage unit control table 120 comprises a controltable 121 which stores each copy of configuration information 1A, 1B ofthe transfer-source storage units 100A, 100B and a control table 121which stores copy of configuration information 1C of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110. In each control table 121, as theconfiguration information 1, two kinds of information, namely, physicalconfiguration 122 to carry out physical configuration control andlogical configuration information 123 to carry out logical configurationcontrol are further controlled.

FIG. 10 indicates a configuration example of the storage unit controltable 120. The storage unit control table 120 comprises, for example,items of control No., storage unit ID, storage unit name, control tableaddress, presence or absence of logical partition function. A controlNumber is “ID” (identification information) such as a serial Number toidentify each storage unit 10 in the whole storage system. The storageunit name is the name assigned to each storage unit 10 on the storagecontrol server 60. Control table address is an address that is used torefer from the storage unit control table 120 to each control table 121.Presence or absence of logical partition function is the information todiscriminate between presence and absence of the logical partitionfunction to be equipped to the transfer-destination storage 110.

In the storage control server 60, when the storage unit 10 to beoperated is chosen from the storage unit control table 120, the controltable 121 is detected by the use of the corresponding control tableaddress. Each control table 121 is arranged in the storage unit controltable 120 for each storage unit under the control of the storage controlserver 60.

For an example, because the transfer-source storage units 100A, 100B donot have any logical partition function, “ABSENCE” information is set tothe item of the presence or absence of the logical partition. Becausethe transfer-destination storage unit 110 has a logical partitionfunction, “PRESENCE” information is set to the item of the presence orabsence of the logical partition.

By the way, when the information of the table shown in each figureincluding the storage unit control table 121 is displayed on the userinterface in the operation client 80 or storage control server 60 andothers, the display form is the same as the configuration shown in, forexample, each figure.

FIG. 11 indicates the content of physical configuration information 122in the control table 121 more in detail. In the physical configurationinformation 122, information which enables the association with thehardware-related information and logical information of the storage unit10 is held. The physical configuration information 122 possesses, forexample, storage unit ID, cache capacity, port information, diskinformation, and others. The cache capacity is the available capacity ofthe cache memory 35 loaded on the storage unit 10 identified by thestorage unit ID. As the port information, it has port ID which is the IDof a physical port which CHA 36 of the storage unit 10 has, informationthat indicates the use condition, and others. The disk information isthe information related to disk drive 32, and contains physical disk ID,capacity, RAID type, use condition, RAID group ID, and others. Thephysical disk ID is ID of the disk drive 32. The capacity is thecapacity of the disk drive 32. The RAID type is the information thatindicates the RAID type assigned to the disk drive 32. The use conditionis the information that indicates the condition such as whether or hotthe disk drive 32 is being used for RAID assignment. The RAID group IDis ID of the RAID group which is assigned to the disk drive 32. As anexample, the condition in which four disk drives 32 are assigned withRAID group ID set as 1 and RAID type as 5.

FIG. 12 indicates the content of the logical configuration information123 in the control table 121 in more detail. In the logicalconfiguration information 123, connection path configuration observedfrom the connected host computer and assigned logical device ID, andother logical setting information in the storage unit 10 are maintainedand controlled. The logical configuration information 123 includeslogical partition information, cache information, logical deviceinformation, port information, path configuration information andothers. For example, as the logical partition information, storagelogical partition ID (abbreviated as SLPR-ID), and cache logicalpartition ID (abbreviated as CLPR-ID). They are IDs of the SLPR 51 andthe CLPR 50. In addition, for the cache information, overall cachecapacity, assigned capacity, and others are included. The overall cachecapacity is the capacity of cache memory 35 which serves as the supplysource of the logical partition configuration.

The assigned capacity is the capacity assigned as the cache area to eachCLPR 50 of CLPR-ID. The example shows that of 32 GB of the overall cachecapacity, 12 GB is assigned to the CLPR 50 identified by the CLPR 1 asthe assigned capacity.

In addition, for the logical device information, logical device ID, RAIDgroup, RAID type, capacity, use condition, SLPR-ID, CLPR-ID, and othersare held. The logical device ID is the ID to identify and control thelogical device 42 cut from the RAID group 41. The RAID group is theinformation that shows the RAID group 41 set to the logical device ID.The RAID type is the information that indicates the RAID type set to thelogical device ID. The capacity is the capacity of the logical device42. The use condition is the information that shows the use condition inassigning the logical device 42 to the logical partition configurationand others. SLPR-ID and CLPR-ID are ID of the SLPR 51 and the CLPR 50which are associated with the logical device 42.

In addition, as port information, the port ID and use condition, pathconfiguration information, the SLPR-ID and CLPR-ID, and others are held.To logical ports 44, 44A identified by each port ID, the connection pathshown by the path configuration information is assigned and SLPR51 andthe CLPR 50 identified by the SLPR-ID or CLPR-ID are assigned.

In addition, as path configuration information, host group, LU No. thelogical device ID, CMD definition and others are held. The host group isID of a host group 43 which uses the connection path. LU No. is theinformation to identify LU (logical unit) which the host group uses. Thelogical device ID indicates the logical device assigned to the LU. TheCMD definition is the information that indicates the setting ON/OFF tobe used as the CMD device as described above.

For an example, by ports 44, 44A of port ID “CL1-A”, it shows that hostgroup 43 of host group “Grp 1”, logical device 42 of correspondinglogical device ID “1,” “2,” and the SLPR 51 “SLPR 1” and the CLPR 50“CLPR 1,” and others are set.

In addition, in the event that in the control table 121, the relevantstorage unit 10 has no logical partition function and the item ofpresence or absence of logical partition in the storage unit controltable 120 is “ABSENCE,” for example, information related to logicalpartition is not used, and by keeping the related item blank, it ispossible to control the transfer-source storage unit 100 and otherswhich have no logical partition function.

FIG. 13 indicates the content of the migration configuration conversiontable 68D in the storage control server 60 more in detail. Theconfiguration example that corresponds to the transfer-source storageunit 100 and the transfer-destination storage unit 110 is shown. Themigration configuration conversion table 68D is prepared and used in thecase of conversion processing to convert the configuration of thetransfer-source storage unit 100 to the logical partition configurationof the transfer-destination storage unit 110. The migrationconfiguration conversion program 68D has an area of the transfer-sourceconfiguration information shown on the upper side and an area of thetransfer-destination configuration information shown on the lower side.The migration configuration conversion table 68D is prepared by thestorage control server 60 on the basis of the configuration information1 of each of the transfer-source and the transfer-destination storageunits 10.

In the area of the transfer-source configuration information, thetransfer-source storage unit ID, the transfer-source cache capacity,port information, configuration information corresponding to the portand others are held. For the configuration information corresponding tothe port, host group, LU No., logical device ID, capacity, RAID type,CMD definition, and others are held. The transfer-source storage unit IDis the ID of the transfer-source storage unit 100. The transfer-sourcecache capacity is the cache capacity of the transfer-source storage unit100. For the port information, used port ID and use condition areinformation on the port used in the transfer-source storage unit 100.The configuration information corresponding to the port information isinformation on the connection path configuration and others set to theport. Each piece of information of the host group and otherscorresponding to the port information is same as the informationdescribed in the logical configuration information 123.

In the area of the transfer-destination configuration information, thetransfer-destination storage unit ID, set SLPR-ID, set CLPR-ID, set CLPRassigned capacity, applicable port ID and presence or absence of use andother port information, the transfer-destination applicableconfiguration information that corresponds to port information andothers are held. The transfer-destination storage unit ID is associatedwith the transfer-source storage unit ID. The set SLPR-ID and setCLPR-ID indicates each logical partition ID set as the SLPR 51 and theCLPR 50 in the transfer-destination storage unit 110. The set CLPRassigned capacity indicates the capacity assigned as the cache area bythe CLPR 50 to be set. The applicable port ID indicates the port to beapplied at the transfer-destination to the use port ID at thetransfer-source presence or absence of use indicates whether or not theapplicable port is used. The transfer-destination applicableconfiguration information indicates the configuration informationapplied in correspondence to the applicable port at thetransfer-destination The transfer-destination applicable configurationinformation has in the same manner, host group, LU Number, logicaldevice ID, capacity, RAID type, CMD definition, and others.

When conversion processing by the migration configuration conversionprogram 68C is implemented, first of all, in order to reflect theinformation necessary for migration of the transfer-source storage unit100 to the area of the transfer-source configuration information in themigration configuration conversion table 68D, updating processing of thearea of the transfer-source configuration information is carried out onthe basis of the reference of the configuration control table 68B. Thatis, by the storage control server 60, the control table address whichserves as the reference party that corresponds to the transfer-sourcestorage unit 100 is acquired from the storage unit control table 120 andthe control table 121 that corresponds to this is detected, andreferring to the configuration information 1 in this control table 121,that is, the physical configuration information 122 and the logicalconfiguration information 123, by this configuration information 1, thearea of the transfer-source configuration information of the migrationconfiguration conversion table 68D is updated. By the updating, theinformation becomes the state of the transfer-source configurationinformation as shown in, for example, FIG. 13.

In the conversion processing, in the transfer-destination configurationinformation of migration configuration conversion table 68D, based onthe content of the transfer-source configuration information, thetransfer-source storage ID is substituted and converted to the setSLPR-ID and the transfer-source cache capacity to the set CLPR-ID andthe set CLPR assigned capacity. In the event of converting from thetransfer-source to the transfer-destination with respect to theconnection path configuration, related to port configuration, logicaldevice configuration and other various resources, even if the ID exactlysame as the transfer-source ID is unable to be secured, as far as theresources that can functionally actualize the same configuration can besecured, the resource is assigned. The transfer-destinationconfiguration information in this kind of migration configurationconversion table 68D is used for the set update information for updatingthe transfer-destination

In the migration configuration conversion table 68D shown in FIG. 13, asan example, the transfer-destination storage unit ID “11100A” is set asthe migration-to for the transfer-source storage unit ID “00100A.” Inaddition, it indicates that the configuration of the transfer-sourcestorage unit 100 is migrated to the configuration of the SLPR 51 “SLPR1” and the CLPR 50 “CLPR 1” in the transfer-destination storage unit110. In addition, in the CLPR 50 “CLPR 1,” it indicates that the 12 GBcapacity is assigned. In addition, for example, it indicates that theconfiguration of port “CL1-A” used at the migration-from is migrated tothe configuration of the transfer-destination applied port “CL2-E.” Inthis migration of port configuration, it indicates that each settingsuch as host group “Grp 1,” “LU No. “0,” “1,” 36 GB capacity, RAID type“5,” CMD definition and others is not changed and taken over as it is,and the logical device ID is varied by the setting of the logical device42.

When the configuration information 1 including the logical partitionconfiguration in the transfer-destination storage unit 110 isestablished as the transfer-destination configuration information in themigration configuration conversion table 68D by the conversionprocessing in the storage control server 60, by this information, firstof all, the content of the logical configuration information 123 in thecontrol table 121 that corresponds to the relevant transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 is updated. And when the storage control server 60updates the content of the control table 121 that correspond to therelevant transfer-destination storage unit 110, the information istransmitted to the transfer-destination storage unit 110 with thisinformation used as the setting update information, and by thisinformation, the configuration is updated.

By the way, because on the stage after the conversion processing, actualupdating of the setting has not yet been carried out in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, it is the state in which thecontent of the transfer-destination configuration information of themigration configuration conversion table 68D does not coincide with thecontent of the configuration information 1C of the transfer-destinationstorage unit 110. When the setting updating is carried out normally inthe transfer-destination storage unit 110, there achieved is the statein which the content of the transfer-destination configurationinformation of the migration configuration conversion table 68Dcoincides with the content of the configuration information 1C of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110.

As described above, by the migration configuration conversion program68C of the storage control server 60, in the migration configurationconversion table 68D, there carried out is the conversion to read theconfiguration content through software from the transfer-sourceconfiguration information 1, for example, configuration information 1A,to the transfer-destination configuration information 1, for example,configuration information 1C. The relevant conversion is basicallycarried out by reading and comparing the transfer-source configurationinformation 1 with the transfer-destination configuration information 1.To achieve conversion between configuration information 1 with differentconstructions, in the storage control server 60, the associationinformation to read items (attributes) comprising the configurationinformation 1 is set, and the information is referred at the time of theconversion processing, and reading processing may be carried out.

FIG. 14 indicates more detailed content of the user account controltable 68G in the storage control server 60. The user account controltable 68G has user account, control target SLPR-ID, control targetCLPR-ID and other information. By the way, the “user” referred to hereincludes the whole storage administrator 53, the partitionadministrators 52A, 52B, and other administrators. In the user accountcontrol table 68G, a user account which can run and control one or morelogical partition configurations, that is, which is authorized foroperation, such as configuration changes of the SLPR 51 and the CLPR 50set to the transfer-destination storage unit 110 in configurationcontrol is held and controlled. Administrators such as partitionadministrators 52A, 52B who use the set user account are allowed foroperations such as configuration control, change, and others within thescope of the logical partition actually run and controlled. For example,a user account which is authorized to operate all the SLPR 51 and theCLPR 50 in the transfer-destination storage unit 110 is set for thewhole storage administrator 53. In addition, for example, for theadministrators who have controlled the transfer-source storage unit100A, a user account, which is authorized to operate the SLPR 51A andthe CLPR 50A logical partitions as a partition administrator 52A in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, is set. In the same manner,independent from the SLPR 51A and the CLPR 50A, to the administrator whohas been controlling the transfer-source storage unit 100B, a useraccount which is authorized to operate the SLPR 51B and the COPR 50Blogical partitions as a partition administrator 52B in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 is set.

<Processing Flow>

FIGS. 15 through 17 are flow charts which indicate the whole span of theprocessing and procedures which have been described with respect to thepresent embodiment. In FIG. 15, from processing start to processingS100, the transfer-source storage unit 100 is in the state in which theconfiguration is controlled by the storage control server 60. In S101,the transfer-destination storage unit 110 is newly introduced and aremote copy environment is established between the transfer-sourcestorage unit 100 and the transfer-destination storage unit 110. In S102,the initial introduction configuration is registered to the storagecontrol server 60 with the newly introduced transfer-destination storageunit 110 as a control target of the storage control server 60.

In S103, from the operation client 80, the transfer-source storage unit100 and the transfer-destination storage unit 110 are chosen andmigration processing start is directed to the storage control server 60.In such event, processing to acquire the latest configurationinformation 1 from each storage unit 10 by the storage control server 60may be carried out.

In S104, as part of migration adequacy judgment, the storage controlserver 60 first tries to secure the cache capacity equivalent to theconfiguration of the transfer-source storage unit 100, that is, thedesignated capacity as CLPR50 by the transfer-destination storage unit110 designated as the transfer-destination. In S105, whether or not theequivalent cache capacity is secured is judged. If it is secured (YES),in S106, a unique CLPR-ID is assigned to the secured cache area. And inS107, the storage control server 60 tries to secure the resources suchas ports necessary for establishing the transfer-destination SLPR 51 andlogical device. In S108, whether or not the equivalent resources aresecured is judged. If it is secured (YES), in S109, established of theconfiguration equivalent to the transfer-source in the secured SLPR 51,assignment of the unique SLPR-ID to this, and assignment of the securedCLPR 50 are implemented.

In the S105, in the event that the CLPR 50 of the equivalent cachecapacity cannot be secured due to shortage of the remaining assignablecache capacity in the transfer-destination storage unit or others(NO-J1), by S120, S121 of FIG. 17, the error information that indicates“failure of securing CLPR” is returned to the operation client 80 viathe storage control server 60. And the relevant transfer-source storageunit 100 is excluded from the migration target for the CLPR 50 and themigration processing is not executed, and the processing moves to S110.

In the event that in the S108, the resources necessary for establishingthe SDLPR 51 has been unable to be secured due to shortage of theavailable logical device 42 in the transfer-destination storage unit 110(NO-J2), by S122, S123 of FIG. 17, the error information that indicates“failure of securing SLPR resources” is returned to the operation client80 in the same manner. And the relevant transfer-source storage unit 100is excluded from the migration target for the SLPR 51 and the migrationprocessing is not executed, and the processing moves to S110.

Next, in S110, the storage control server 60 judges whether or not aplurality of the transfer-source storage units 100 are designated. If aplurality are designated (Yes-N1), the storage control server 60confirms whether or not securing of the transfer destination applied toall the transfer sources has been carried out in S111 of FIG. 16, and ifit is not secured (No-L1), the storage control server 60 repeats theprocessing procedures shown in S104 through S109 and S120 through S123.

After securing the transfer-destination applied to all the transfersources (S111-Yes), in S112, updating of the configuration in thetransfer-destination storage 110, that is, updating processing ofconfiguration information 1 on shared memory 37 is actually carried outfor the CLPR 50, the SLPR 51 for which resources necessary have beensecured in the transfer-destination storage unit 110. By this, thetransfer-destination CLPR 50 and SLPR 51 are generated on the logicalconfiguration of the transfer-destination storage unit 110.

Successively, in S113, processing concerning data migration is started.In storage control server 60 and transfer-source andtransfer-destination storage units 100, 110, for the transfer-sourceconfiguration whose migration to the logical partition in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 has been succeeded, establishmentis tried for a copy pair for remote copy processing between thetransfer-source and the transfer-destination logical devices 42.

In S114 through S116, whether or not the designated number of copy pairscorresponding to logical devices 42 of one or more transfer-sourcestorage units 100 has been established is checked. In S114, whether ornot a copy pair has been established in the transfer-source and thetransfer-destination logical devices 42 is confirmed. In addition, inS115, whether or not multiple transfer sources are designated isconfirmed. In addition, in S116, whether or not a copy pair at all thetarget transfer sources/transfer destinations have been established isconfirmed. For those which were unable to establish a copy pair(S114-No-J3), in S124, S125 of FIG. 17, the error information thatindicates “failure of establishing a copy pair corresponding to thetransfer-source/transfer-destination configurations” is returned to theoperation client 80. Then, the relevant transfer-source andtransfer-destination storage units 100, 110 are excluded from the datacopy processing targets and the data migration processing is decided notto be executed and processing is moved to the S115.

After establishing the copy-pair, in S117, data copy processing of thedata of the logical device 42 from the transfer-source storage unit 100to the transfer-destination storage unit 110 is actually carried out bythe copy-pair control by the remote copy function. And in S118, the datacopy processing results in all the copy-pairs are notified to theoperation client 80 via the storage control server 60.

In S119, in the operation client 80, setting processing for the wholestorage administrator to register the user account to which theauthority to control the SLPR 51 and the CLPR 50 generated in thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 is given and to assign for eachlogical partition is carried out for the storage control server 60. Thisconcludes migration of configuration and data from the transfer-sourceto the transfer-destination

<Migration Form>

In FIGS. 18A and 18B, application examples in the migration form fromthe transfer-source to the transfer-destination logical partitionconfigurations by the storage system in the present embodiment areshown. For example, assume that in the storage system, there aremultiple transfer-source storage units #1 (400) and #2 (410) which donot have any logical partition function and there is onetransfer-destination storage unit #1 (420) which has a logical partitionfunction. The transfer-source storage unit #1 (400) has storage logicalconfiguration 401 and cache configuration 402 as the configuration. Thetransfer-source storage unit #2 (410) has storage logical configuration411 and cache configuration 412 as the configuration. Thetransfer-destination storage unit #1 (420) is able to configure theabove-mentioned CLPR 50 and SLPR 51 as the logical partition functionand CLPR 50 is assigned to the SLPR 51. The storage logicalconfigurations 401, 411 are portions that correspond to conversion tothe SLPR 51. The cache configurations 402, 412 are portions thatcorrespond to conversion to the CLPR 50.

In the event that the configuration and data of two transfer-sourcestorage units 400, 410 are migrated to the logical partitionconfiguration of one of the transfer-destination storage units 420, inthe CLPR 50 and SLPR 51 in the transfer-destination storage unit 420,there is no need to limit the transfer source and the transferdestination to the configuration in which the transfer source and thetransfer destination are one-to-one associated as is the case of theexample shown in FIG. 2. It is possible to consolidate multipletransfer-source storage units 100 into one transfer-destination storageunit 110 and handle them as one logical partition configuration from theviewpoint of control. Furthermore, when multiple transfer-source storageunits 100 are migrated to the CLPR 50 and the SLPR 51 of thetransfer-destination storage unit 110, the SLPR 51 only are consolidatedand for the CLPR 50, the multiple CLPR 50's may be designated inaccordance with the transfer-source configuration in the correspondingSLPR 51, respectively.

The example shown in FIG. 18A is a consolidation example when thestorage logical configuration 401 and cache configuration 402 of thetransfer-source storage unit #1 (400) and the storage logicalconfiguration 411 and the cache configuration 412 of the“transfer-source storage unit #2 (410) are migrated to the SLPR 51 andthe CLPR 50 of the transfer-destination storage unit 420. In such event,with respect to the FLPR 51, the total of two transfer-source storagelogical configurations 401, 411 as is the case of the consolidatedstorage logical configuration 421 are assigned as the SLPR 423. And withrespect to the CLPR 50, two transfer-source cache configurations 402,421 are assigned into one SLPR 423 as independent cache configurations422A, 422B as it is. The advantage of this migration form is thatbecause the configuration control can be centralized by using one SLPR51 which is the basic for control of the logical partition at thetransfer-destination but the cache access can occupy each CLPR 50 (422A,422B) In the form to match the conventional transfer-source task system,the processing is free of detrimental effect such as access competitioncaused by processing on the other side when access is made to the cachememory 35 by processing on one side.

In addition, the consolidation as shown in FIG. 18B is possible, too. Inthis consolidation example, in the transfer-destination with respect tothe SLPR 51, the storage logical configuration 421 consolidated in thesame manner as in FIG. 18A is assigned as the SLPR 423. And with respectto the CLPR 50, two transfer-source cache configurations 402, 412 areassigned to one CLPR 422C as one consolidated cache configuration. Inthe CLPR 422C, the cache area of a capacity, for example, withtransfer-source cache capacities added is secured. In the case of thismigration form, the transfer-destination cache access becomes the sharedaccess to one CLPR 422C.

Furthermore, if there exist a large number of storage units 10 to bereplaced, it is possible to designate, from the operation client 80 andothers, a plurality of migration forms such as assigning 1-to-1 thetransfer-source configuration and the transfer-destination logicalpartition configuration in one or more transfer-destination storageunits 110 for multiple transfer-source storage units 100 or toconsolidate multiple transfer-source configurations into a specificlogical partition as described above and to execute migration in a lump.There is no case in which particularly only one transfer-destinationstorage unit 110 is allowed to be designated. In addition, it ispossible to designate the type, etc. of the migration form from theoperation client 80 and others and execute migration, etc. in the modein which the type of each migration form or processing mode as describedabove is prepared in a system in advance, or a mode in which aadministrator is allowed to register the setting related to migrationform.

EFFECTS AND MODIFIED EXAMPLES

As described above, in the migration system of the present embodiment,in carrying out migration of the configuration and data from one storageunit 10 to other storage unit 10, for example, migration for replace andothers, migration to the storage unit (110) which has a logicalpartition function from the storage unit (100) which has no logicalpartition function can be efficiently achieved, and burdens of personalwork by the person in charge such as rereading of the configurationinformation 1 and others can be reduced. In the present embodiment, theconfiguration and the data can be continuously migrated in a lump, inparticular, with the configuration of no logical partition of thetransfer-source storage unit 100 and the stored data of the storagevolume set as a logical partition configuration of a system of the SLPR51 and the CLPR 50 and others of the transfer-destination storage unitand the stored data in the logical partition.

In addition, in the present embodiment, it is possible to migrate theconfiguration only, that is, the configuration information 1 only, inaddition to the migration processing of the configuration and the datadescribed above. For example, in accordance with the procedure as shownin FIG. 8, processing and operation up to establishment of the logicalpartition configuration of the transfer-destination storage unit 110 ofS10 are carried out. And with respect to the stored data of the storagevolume of the transfer-source storage unit 100, directions are givennewly later and migration processing can be implemented.

In addition, with respect to the operation of remote copy environmentcreation for data migration, it may carry out processing to displaydirections for each necessary work procedure such as direction to set acommunication route to the operation client 80 through the storagecontrol server 60 when the state required for data migration is reached.The person in charge is allowed to carry out the work in accordance withthe direction and after securing the condition in which the data can bemigrated, the data migration processing is started.

In addition, the migration work can be carried out in either operationor non-operation state of the transfer-source storage unit 100. That is,it is possible to execute migration processing while online taskprocessing by the task server 130 is in session after a data I/O accessis received from the task server 130 by the transfer-source storage unit100 and needless to say, it is possible to execute migration processingwith the online task processing temporarily suspended.

And, as a migration form of the configuration and the data, it is alsopossible to copy the configuration of one storage unit (100) to theother storage unit (110), in addition to the mode to replace, that is,to move the configuration of the old storage unit (100) to the newstorage unit (110) and change over the use. It is also possible tocontinue or stop the use of the transfer-source storage unit (100) aftermigration.

In addition, in the present embodiment, for the case in which theconstructions of the transfer-source and the transfer-destinationconfiguration information 1 differ, the case in which there is adifference in presence or absence of the logical partition function wasdescribed, migration is possible under the conditions in which theconstruction of the configuration information 1 can be converted by theconversion processing at the storage control server 60 for otherfunctions related to the logical partition function and others.

In the event the transfer-destination storage unit 110 has a logicalpartition function, it is not always necessary to convert thetransfer-source logical partition configuration to thetransfer-destination logical partition configuration but is possible tocopy the configuration with no logical partition as it is from thetransfer-source to the transfer-destination is possible in accordancewith the directions and others from the operation client 80. Inaddition, it is also possible to migrate one transfer-source storageunit 100 only.

In addition, the storage control server 60 is equipped with both theconfiguration control means to carry out the control of theconfiguration information 1 of multiple storage units 10 and theconfiguration conversion means to carry out conversion processing formigration, but a mode to divide and provide two functions on differentunits may be acceptable.

In addition, a mode to possess the configuration information 1 in thestorage unit 10 only, hold no configuration information 1 in the storagecontrol server 60, and carry out migration control only including theconversion processing is possible, too. In such event, the storagecontrol server 60 does not carry out batch control of each configurationinformation 1 but as the migration control, the configurationinformation 1 is read from both transfer-source and transfer-destinationstorage units 100, 110 when migration is executed and conversionprocessing of the configuration information 1 is carried out by 68C forthe migration configuration conversion program, and the setting updateinformation prepared by the conversion is transmitted to thetransfer-destination storage unit 110 and the configuration is updated.

In addition, as another embodiment of the present invention, thefollowing modes are possible as the mode in which the storage controlserver 60 is not used. In the typical embodiment mentioned above,processing information such as configuration information 1 and others istransmitted and received between units through the communication meanssuch as network 300 and others, but a mode in which the portion of theprocessing information transmission and reception processing is notcarried out on the communication means may be adopted. That is, in themode in which the communication means is not used, migration work iscarried out by the administrator while the processing information isstored in the recording medium and physically moved from one unit to theother. The configuration conversion means which the storage controlserver 60 is equipped with, that is, the conversion program equippedwith the function same as that of the migration configuration conversionprogram 68C is used.

The person in charge such as the whole storage administrator 53 readsthe configuration information 1 on shared memory 37 from thetransfer-source storage unit 100 temporarily to an external recordingmedium through the SVP 38 processing and others and stores. Therecording medium includes a flexible disk, CD, and others. And theperson in charge moves from one unit to the other, executes theconversion program on certain information processor unit such as thetransfer-destination PC and others, loads the processed information suchas configuration information 1 and others stored in the recordingmedium, and carries out conversion processing and others for themigration by the conversion program. Then, the person in charge storesthe processed information after conversion processing, that is, thesetting update information and others in a recording medium again andmoves to the transfer-destination storage unit 110. And the person incharge loads the processed information from the recording medium inprocessing of the transfer-destination storage unit 110 throughprocessing of the SVP 38 and others, and reflects the setting updateinformation read by the SVP 38 to the configuration information 1 onshared memory 37 and updates the configuration. By this kind ofoperation, migration is possible without carrying out transmission andreception of the information on the communication means.

In the foregoing description, the invention made by the presentinventors has been specifically described based on the embodiment.However, needless to say, the present invention is not limited to theabove embodiment and can be variously modified and altered withoutdeparting from the gist thereof.

The present invention is applicable as a computer system that carriesout processing and operation of migrating the configuration and data ofa storage unit.

1. A storage system including one or more storage units equipped with astorage device and a controller for controlling storage of data intosaid storage device, the storage system comprising: said storage unitseach having a configuration in which configuration information includinglogical configuration information is held on a memory; and a migrationcontrol means for controlling migration of a configuration and databetween a first storage unit having no logical partition function inwhich a logical partition configuration restricts, to a specific user,an access to a resource of a usable logical configuration and a secondstorage unit having said logical partition function, wherein saidmigration control means comprises the functions of: migrating theconfiguration, in accordance with a direction of migration, byperforming a conversion process in which the configuration of said firststorage unit to be a transfer-source is converted to the logicalpartition configuration of said second storage unit to be a transferdestination, based on the configuration information of said firststorage unit and by updating a configuration of said second storageunit; and after migration of said configuration, successively migratingstored data from said first storage unit to said second storage unit byusing a data copy means for copying data between said first storage unitand said second storage unit.
 2. A storage system including one or morestorage units equipped with a storage device and a controller forcontrolling storage of data into said storage device, the storage systemcomprising: said storage units each having a configuration in whichconfiguration information including logical configuration information isheld on a memory; and a server unit used as a means for controllingmigration of a configuration and data between a first storage unithaving no logical partition function in which a logical partitionconfiguration restricts, to a specific user, an access to a resource ofa usable logical configuration and a second storage unit having saidlogical partition function, the server unit including said first storageunit to be a transfer source and said second storage unit to be atransfer destination, which are communicatably connected to each other,wherein said server unit performs the processes for: collecting theconfiguration information of each of said storage units, and holding andcontrolling it in a table; converting the configuration of said firststorage unit to the logical partition configuration of said secondstorage unit, based on configuration information in said table inaccordance with a direction of migration; transmitting the informationprepared by the conversion to said second storage unit, and updating theconfiguration of the second storage unit; and after migration of saidconfiguration, successively migrating stored data in a storage volumefrom said first storage unit to said second storage unit by using a datacopy means for copying data between said first storage unit and saidsecond storage unit.
 3. The storage system according to claim 2, whereinsaid storage unit has a configuration in which a processor unit, whichenables an input/output to/from the configuration information held onsaid memory and is communicably connected to the outside, is connected,and said server unit is communicably connected to said processor unit insaid first and second storage units, acquires the configurationinformation from said first and second storage units through a processby said processor unit, and updates the configuration information heldby said second storage unit.
 4. The storage system according to claim 2,wherein said storage unit has a configuration in which saidconfiguration information, including logical configuration informationon logical configuration information including a path configuration, astorage volume configuration, and a cache configuration, is held on thememory, said second storage unit is able to configure, by said logicalpartition function, a first logical partition about said cacheconfiguration and a second logical partition about other configurationsincluding said path configuration and said storage volume configuration,and said server unit converts, in accordance with a direction ofmigration, said transfer-source cache configuration to said firstlogical partition, and other configurations including said pathconfiguration and said storage volume configuration to said secondlogical partition, as a logical partition configuration in saidtransfer-destination second storage unit.
 5. The storage systemaccording to claim 2, wherein said server unit receives a direction of aprocess related to said migration from other units, receives, by saiddirection, designation of said first storage unit to be the transfersource and said second storage unit to be the transfer destination, andcontrols the migration designated from the transfer source to thetransfer destination.
 6. The storage system according to claim 2,wherein said server unit reads the configuration information of saidfirst storage unit and the configuration information of said secondstorage unit held in said table, carries out the conversion processtherebetween, reflects the information prepared by said conversionprocess, to the configuration information of said second storage unitheld in said table and updates it, and transmits the informationprepared by said conversion process to said second storage unit andupdates the configuration information of said second storage unit by theabove information.
 7. The storage system according to claim 2, whereinsaid stored data is migrated by using a remote copy function ofremote-copying the stored data of the storage volume that forms a copypair between said transfer-source first storage unit and saidtransfer-destination second storage unit, as said data copy means in theprocess for migrating said data.
 8. The storage system according toclaim 2, wherein said server unit carries out a migration process byconverting one-to-one a plurality of transfer-source storage-unitconfigurations to a plurality of logical partition configurations in thetransfer-destination storage unit.
 9. The storage system according toclaim 2, wherein said server unit carries out a migration process byconsolidating a plurality of transfer-source storage unit configurationsto one logical partition configuration in the transfer-destinationstorage unit.
 10. The storage system according to claim 2, wherein saidserver unit assigns transfer-destination logical configuration resourcesto the transfer source in such a manner that a configuration asequivalent to the configuration of said transfer-source first storageunit as possible is secured as a logical partition configuration of saidtransfer-destination second storage unit in said conversion process. 11.A storage system including one or more storage units equipped with astorage device and a controller for controlling storage of data intosaid storage device, the storage system comprising: said storage unitseach having a configuration in which configuration information includinglogical configuration information is held on a memory; and a server unitused as a means for controlling migration of a configuration between afirst storage unit having no logical partition function in which alogical partition configuration restricts, to a specific user, an accessto a resource of a usable logical configuration and a second storageunit having said logical partition function, the server unit includingsaid first storage unit to be a transfer source and said second storageunit to be a transfer destination, which are communicatably connected toeach other, wherein said server unit performs the processes for:collecting the configuration information of each of said storage units,and holding and controlling it in a table; converting the configurationof said first storage unit to the logical partition configuration ofsaid second storage unit, based on configuration information in saidtable in accordance with a direction of migration: and transmitting theinformation prepared by the conversion to said second storage unit, andupdating the configuration of the second storage unit.
 12. A storagesystem including one or more storage units equipped with a storagedevice and a controller for controlling storage of data into saidstorage device, the storage system comprising: said storage units eachhaving a configuration in which configuration information includinglogical configuration information is held on a memory; and aninformation processor unit used at a time of migrating a configurationbetween a first storage unit having no logical partition function inwhich a logical partition configuration restricts, to a specific user,an access to a resource of a usable logical configuration and a secondstorage unit having said logical partition function, the informationprocessor unit having a conversion program that runs to carry out aconversion process for the configuration information of saidtransfer-source and transfer-destination storage units, wherein, whileoperator’ work is interposed therebetween, the configuration informationread respectively from said first and second storage units and stored ina recording medium Is taken in by a conversion program that runs on saidinformation processor unit and, based on this information, theconfiguration of said first storage unit is converted to the logicalpartition configuration of said second storage unit and the informationprepared by said conversion process is stored in said recording mediumand the stored information is read by said second storage unit and, bythis information, the configuration information in said second storageunit is updated.